food change

[SillyFids]

I know its very important to change the birds food daily - I know that it can look full but they shell the seeds. My question is:

Do I throw out everything in the bowl every day and put new in?
How many bags of food do you go through roughly in a week? My food dish is deep so i feel like I'd be wasting a lot of food to be throwing it out every day?

[newloviemom]

Can you get a couple of shallower food dishes...that way you would also be able to keep a better eye on how much they are actually eating. Also then if they leave empty shells on top, the dish is shallw enough that they can easily dig down to the uneaten seed under the shells.

[dieflying]

With just one bird, I haven't yet bought more than 2 bags in an almost 4 month period. She just doesn't eat the seed that fast.

At first I was throwing out a lot because she wouldn't eat any of the extra stuff - dried veggies, sunflower seeds, blah blah. She does much better now.

I purposefully bought a small dish so I change it maybe 2 times a day (or 3 if she's eating fast). She gets a dish of veggies and such every day or two, so she doesn't eat a lot of seed.

When I take out the seed to replace it, I save the extras in a tupperware so I can sprout them later and give the sprouts to her. It helps cut down waste just a little.

Also, I read somewhere that only giving them a little seed will stop them from wasting it. I guess they see less food and realize they have to be more careful with it. I don't know how effective that is since the dish I give Kath is so small anyway.

[SillyFids]

thanks! I was getting worried because I don't want to think he's eating and then find out he's not! I also put veggies and fruit in a bowl in his cage so he can munch on that as well.

[Tango's_Mom]

just because you're dishes are big doesn't mean you have to fill it, if i filled my dishes ten lovebirds probably couldn't finish it in a day or even a couple days. I have large bowls but i just put in roughly what Tango will eat in a day. I have a small scoop that i use, i give him one scoop in the morning and on the odd day where he does eat that all i just give him a bit more when he gets low, but most days that's the perfect amout, he usually still has a bit left before bed and then finishes it off first thing in the morning before i dump the hulls and whatever he doesn't eat and give him a fresh scoop. it's would honestly be hard to say how fast i go through a bag of seed since I mix 3 different feeds, but it definitely takes a while.